Mop wringer with gear driven rolls



y 9 A. TURK 3,441,973

MOP WRINGER WITH GEAR DRIVEN ROLLS Filed Sept. 19, 1967 United States Patent 3,441,973 MOP WRINGER WITH GEAR DRIVEN ROLLS Albert Turk, 35 Crane Ave., Weston, Ontario, Canada Filed Sept. 19, 1967, Ser. No. 668,866 Int. Cl. A471 13/59, 13/60, 13/144 US. Cl. 1S262 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a wringer, and particularly to a wringer for wringing or squeezing water from mops and similar articles.

Many attempts have been made to provide a wringer of suitable and useful construction and while many do a satisfactory job none provide a wringer of sturdy and durable construction with simple one hand operation and which can be regulated to control the degree of dryness.

It is the object of the present invention then to provide a wringer of sturdy and durable construction which may simply be operated by one hand.

It is a further object to provide a wringer providing one hand operation which may be simply and easily and quickly adjusted to control the degree of dryness of the article being wrung.

It is still a further object to provide a wringer adjustable to wring mops and other articles of varying size to any selected degree of dryness.

It is another object to provide a wringer capable of being used alone or mounted on a cleaning cart and providing speed and ease of operation.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of the invention showing the wringer in open position;

FIGURE 2 is a front perspective view showing the rollers in closed position and the operating lever being moved forwardly to effect mop wringing; and

FIGURE 3 is a rear perspective view showing the wringer in open position.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, numeral 2 represents a frame member which may be in the form of a bucket or water receptacle having front and side panels and a rear panel 4. The rear panel 4 may be provided with a handle arrangement 6 by which to carry the bucket. The rear panel may also be provided with book means 8 to enable the bucket 2 to be positioned on a cart (not shown). The bucket. may be provided with a bottom to receive the water from the article being wrung or the bottom may be open if the bucket is to be suspended (as by hooks 8) in a larger water receptacle or tub (not shown). Of course the bucket 2 itself may be of any desired size.

Rotatably secured to the front upper edge of the bucket is a first roller 10 against which an article to be wrung is positioned.

A second roller 12 is rotatably secured to parallel arms 14 which are in turn fixedly secured to a tube member 16 which is rotatably secured to the back of the rear panel 18 by suitable means such as brackets 20see FIGURE 3. Thus the second roller 12 may move from the rear or open position as shown in FIGURES 1 and 3 to the forward or closed position as shown in FIGURE 2 parallel with the first roller due to the rotational mounting of the generally U-shaped support assembly consisting of tube 16 and arms 14.

A rod 22 is rotatably positioned within tube 16 and is provided at one end with a fan-shaped member 24 carrying a curved rack 26 fixably secured thereto, and is bent at the other end to form a spring arm 22. A spring 28 is positioned between arm 22' and arms 14 the tension of which can be adjusted by means such as a wing-nut 30 for purposes to be explained in more detail below.

An operating lever 32 is fixably secured to the outer surface of the fan-shaped member 24 to move the second roller 12 assembly from the open to the closed position.

The second roller 12 is provided with a gear 34 secured to the axis thereof and rotatably therewith. The gear 34 is in meshing engagement with curved rack 26 and it will be appreciated that movement of rack 26 with respect to gear 34, as when handle 32 is pulled downwardly will cause rotation of roller 12-clockwise when viewed in FIGURES 1 and 2 and counter-clockwise when viewed in FIGURE 3.

When one desires to wring a mop or other article the apparatus is in the position shown in FIGURE 1 and the mop is placed against roller 2 with the bulk of the mop within the bucket. The lever 32 is then pulled forwardly and the roller 12 assembly will be carried forwardly by spring 28 until the roller 12 contacts and squeezes the mop between itself and roller 2. Up to this time roller 12 has not rotated and the respective positioning of gear 34 with respect to curved rack 26 is as shown in FIGURE 1. Once however the mop is squeezed between the two rollers and the forward movement of the roller 12 is arrested, continued forward movement of the lever 32 will cause rotation of roller 12 to both wring the mop and roll and expel the mop from between the two rollers see FIGURE 2. The degree of pressure that is exerted on the mop by roller 12 before rotation starts will depend of course on the tension in spring 28. The stronger the tension in spring 28 the more squeezing before rotation. The degree of dryness of the mop can be controlled by regulating the tension of spring 28 by means of wing nut. As the mop is gradually being wrung and rolled from between the two rollers the squeezing pressure on the mop by roller 12 will gradually increase as the spring 28 is gradually increasing in length or elongation with resultant increasing tension.

It will be appreciated of course that the degree of dryness of the article being wrung will depend on the tension of spring 28 which is adjustable. Also the single lever provides for simple one hand operation leaving the other hand free to catch the mop or article as it is being wrung and rolled from between the two rollers.

The wringing action is continued until the article is wrung free from between the two rollers, and the lever is then pushed rearwardly to assume the position in FIGURE 1, and the action of spring 28 between arms 14 and 22' will cause rolling of gear 34 with respect to curved rack 26 to return the gear to the position on the rack shown in FIGURE 1 ready for the next wringing operation. Alternatively the lever 32 or rod 22 may be spring-loaded (spring not shown) to return the lever and roller assembly automatically to the rearward position shown in FIGURES 1 and 3 when forward pressure on the lever 32 is released.

As a further modification to control the degree of dryness of the article being wrung a stop member may be provided to control the positioning of the second roller 12 with respect to the first roller during the wringing operation. In the drawings, FIGURES 1 and 2, this stop member is indicated by numeral 36. This member 36 is generally triangular in configuration and is mounted for adjustable rotation on the axis of the first roller 10. Along one edge the stop member 36 is scalloped and provided with a number of concave notches 38. Each notch is a different distance from the center of the axis of roller 2, and by rotating the stop member the distance between the two rollers during wringing may be controlled. With the stop member 36 set the forward movement of the second roller assembly is arrested by the non-rotating collar 14 of arm 14 which supports roller 12 striking the selected notch. See FIGURE 2. Thus by being able to regulate the distance between the two rollers before commencement of rotation of roller 12 the degree of pressure exerted on the mop by roller 12 can be controlled with resultant degree of dryness control. By selectively rotating stop member 36 adjustment may be made to permit the rollers to contact each other to wring thin articles or to be spaced any desired distance apart for thicker articles.

The positioning of the stop member 36 may be controlled by a spring-loaded screw 40 or a thumb screw riding in curved slot 42, or other mounting and adjusting means may be used.

In the drawings the wringer is shown ready for mounting on a cleaning cart. However the Wringer may equally be used without the cart and if this use is preferred the apparatus may be provided with legs or other support structures to maintain the apparatus upright, and a foot pad (not shown) may be provided to secure the apparatus against upset during operation.

The first and second rollers may be mounted on ball or roller bearings to facilitate rotation.

The components of the wringer may be made of any desirable and suitable materials, and the rollers may be smooth as shown in the drawings or may be ribbed, and various modifications and mechanical equivalents may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Wringer comprising a frame member and a first roller rotatably mounted on the frame member, a second roller rotatably carried by a support member comprising a hollow tube member secured to two parallel second roller supporting arms, said hollow tube member being rotatably secured to the frame member to enable movement of the second roller toward and away from the first roller, and a rod mounted axially and rotatably within the tube member, one end of the rod carrying an operating lever and a curved rack in meshing engagement with a gear secured to and coaxially with the second roller, the other end of the rod secured to a spring arm projecting towards said first roller, and a spring extending from the spring arm to the adjacent of said second roller supporting arms and being attached thereto above said tube member, forward movement of the said lever moving the second roller into contact with an article positioned between it and the first roller and thereafter rotating the second roller to expel the article outwardly from between the two rollers.

2. Wringer according to claim 1 wherein the tension of the said spring is adjustable to control the contact pressure of the second roller on the article to control the degree of dryness of the article after wringing.

3. Wringer according to claim 1 wherein the frame member is in the form of a tub or water receptacle.

4. Wringer according to claim 3 wherein the tub is provided with means to secure it to a cart or other structure.

5. Wringer according to claim 4 wherein the tub is open bottomed.

6. Wringer according to claim 1 wherein the rollers are smooth or ribbed.

7. Wringer according to claim 1 further comprising a regulatable stop member to stop the second roller a selected distance from the first roller before rotation of the second roller.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 230,599 8/1880 Adams 15-262 1,552,736 9/1925 Dunphy et a1. 15-262 FOREIGN PATENTS 96,035 3/1960 Norway.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner.

LEON G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner. 

